Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Not really. The government provides you with protection over something you created.
If you write a book, the government does not sieze ownership and then give you back rights. Rather, when you put something into a fixed form, they protect your work for a finite duration. When that protection expires, your work goes into public domain.
Actually, they do. It's called "taxes."
Governments can charge additional fees afaik, but Berne specifies that as soon as content is in a "fixed form," it is considered protected by copyright. You do not need to fill out any forms or pay any fees. This is actually highly beneficial to content creators, especially small scale artists like photographers.
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What taxes? Income taxes? Not the point. I own a piece of land. I have to pay taxes on that piece of land whether or not it produces income. Each year, every year, or the government takes it away from me.
So what taxes does a holder of copyright pay on their copyright. None. If you want it to be treated like property, then it ought to be taxed like property. It would solve the public domain problem quite nicely. You don't pay your taxes, the property gets seized, and placed into the public domain.
Cost of enforcement of copyright? Paid for out of those property taxes....
That garrett that an artist is starving in has property taxes paid by someone...
But a free ride is sooo seductive...Until somebody else starts taking it from you for themselves....